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Police: Muncie Mall store manager faked robbery

MUNCIE — City police say an associate manager at a Muncie Mall shoe store falsely reported he had been robbed of the store’s receipts at gunpoint.

Matthew Gordon Lunsford, 27, of the 100 block of North Bittersweet Lane, was arrested Tuesday, preliminarily charged with false reporting and two counts of theft.

Last Friday night, Lunsford told police he was trying to make a $903 business deposit at the ATM at Old National Bank, 1001 E. McGalliard Road, when a black man walked up to his car, put a gun to his stomach and took the cash.

His report resulted in a police search for a suspect on Muncie’s northeast side.

On Tuesday, after being questioned about an unrelated case, Lunsford first changed his account of the Friday robbery, saying he had instead been robbed by a red-haired white man.

He then allegedly acknowledged he had arranged for an accomplice to take the cash from him at the bank. That man later gave him back half of the money, Lunsford said.

Lunsford is also accused of stealing two rings from a lockbox in his mother’s home and selling them to a local pawn shop.

One of the rings was valued at $5,600, according to an affidavit, and was pawned for $75.

Lunsford allegedly told city police investigator Nick Ramsey he stole the rings while struggling with an addiction to opiates.

The Muncie man — being held in the Delaware County jail on Wednesday under a $5,500 bond — has no prior convictions, according to local court records.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.